Agenda - Council - 10/27/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• City has a program whereby if a renter starts to pay utilities the city sends the owner a letter telling them they need to license the property- no penalty for moving residents in without licensing. • No rewards in place • No crime free housing but there is a police liaison who tries to informally build relationships with renters especially in multi -unit properties. Columbia Heights • The fire department does inspections o New rentals are examined by public works • Inspections are every other year on the inside and every year on the outside • Landlords have 30 days to make corrections after the initial inspection and then get one free re inspection o Additional re -inspections carry an added fee • Most landlords are fine with the program, the ones that don't like it are the bad landlords who are get caught violating code. • No crime free housing program. Coon Rapids • Started in 1999 as a rental registration program. o Was eventually transformed into an inspections program o Started mainly to know what properties were being used as rentals but also eventually became more about making sure that tenants were being provided with decent housing options. • The registration program was free but the inspection program has fees in order to pay for the inspections. • The program is administered by two housing inspectors who are supported by an administrative person. o At one point they contracted with a third -party inspector because of the volume of inspections but they have since phased this out. • There is a "reward" for good property maintenance in that such property owners are subject to less frequent inspection o Every property must renew their license each year and pay that fee but there is an additional fee for each year that an inspection is scheduled. • The rental licensing program has been great. o It is pretty much the only legal tool that cities have in order to protect housing stock and hold landlords accountable. o Some property owners believe the program's requirements are excessive but most of the responsible property owners are very supportive of the programs and understand that it keeps the housing stock nice and prevents problem tenants and landlords.